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[THAILAND]. THAI ILLUSTRATED MANUSCRIPT OF THE PRA MALAI. With text in Páli language and Khom script. About mid 19th century.
Folio with 48 leaves folded in the oriental manner, with text on both sides. Size: 14 x 70 cm. With text written in black ink and with 14 illustrations in colour and some with gold highlights. Contemporary paper covered boards, worn and with some worming to one cover. Occasionally with some minor stain. The text is written in Khom, the Cambodian script which was continued to be used for sacred Pali literature even after the Thai script was developed. 'Pra Malai' is a poem about the venerable monk Malai, which became one of the most popular religious texts at the Ayuthya and Bangkok periods, often recited at weddings and funerals in order to accumulate merit. The poem recounts the experiences of the Sinhalese monk Malai in his journey to Hell and to Heaven, and serves as a moralizing legend in which the consequences of one's deeds in this life are vividly reflected in one's fate in the next. It is probably written in Chieng Mai in the 16th century, based on a Sinhalese original. The popularity of the Pra Malai appears to have waned towards the middle of the 19th century. See Guy: Palm-leaf and paper. Illustrated manuscripts of India and Southeast Asia, pp. 64-65.
Offered for EUR 2000.00 = appr. US$ 2808.00 by: Charlotte Du Rietz Rare Books - Book number: 99246
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